Kent joined CSF in April 2019 as a member of the States Program Team and most recently served as CSF’s lead on state efforts in the Midwestern and Western Regions. Kent currently serves as CSF’s Senior Manager, Working Lands Policy, leading efforts at the state and federal levels on matters pertaining to active forest management, private lands conservation, and other emerging conservation and land-use challenges. In his role, Kent works closely with CSF’s state and federal policy teams, mission partners, and state and federal officials to promote active management on America’s working farms, ranches, and forests in support of science-based wildlife management, the economic incentives that maintain conservation as a priority while keeping America’s working lands and forests in operation, and quality opportunities for sportsmen and women.
Kent is a Certified Wildlife Biologist® through The Wildlife Society and holds a Master of Science in Wildlife Sciences from the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment at Auburn University. During his master’s program, Kent performed research in close collaboration with the state fish and wildlife management agencies in Alabama and Georgia evaluating the conservation benefits and financial considerations associated with forestry and wildlife management practices on private lands. Prior to graduate school, Kent earned a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Wildlife and Conservation from Southeast Missouri State University. While working toward his bachelor’s degree, Kent served as the president of the SEMO student chapter of The Wildlife Society, participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Kansas evaluating tallgrass prairie restoration efforts, and held various volunteer and hourly positions with the Missouri Department of Conservation.
As a native of southwest Missouri, Kent grew up hunting white-tailed deer on his family’s farm and enjoys hunting waterfowl and fishing for smallmouth bass and rainbow trout in the creeks and rivers throughout the Ozarks. He also frequently travels west in pursuit of elk, mule deer, pronghorn, and the abundant fishing opportunities available in the Rockies.